The Pyramid
The bright opening, citrus and fresh notes are in full force.
What the slider doesn't tell you
Why layers exist
Every material evaporates at its own speed. Light molecules (citrus, herbs) fly off first; heavy ones (woods, resins, musks) stay for hours. The pyramid is just a picture of that order.
Roughly how long
Top notes: the first 15 to 30 minutes. Heart: from about 20 minutes to 3 or 4 hours. Base: from a couple of hours to the end of the day, sometimes the next morning on clothes.
Judge the base, not the opening
In a shop you smell the top notes; what you will wear all day is the heart and base. Spray on skin, walk around, and decide after an hour.
Some perfumes have no pyramid
Many modern perfumes are 'linear': they smell almost the same from start to finish, and brands list their notes as a flat list. About 1,200 perfumes on Moshkin show notes that way. It isn't missing data, it's how they were built.
Longevity lives in the base
A perfume built mostly on citrus and herbs will fade fast whatever the label says; one with woods, amber, vanilla or musk at the base will last. Look at the base notes when longevity matters.
Which layer of a perfume fades first?